And with the new offensive system in place, it\u2019s easy to see how quickly someone can fall behind when other factors were also working against him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe thing that was really hard on me was the drops \u2026 just knowing I can catch the ball and knowing I can go out there and perform. That was probably the hardest thing,\u201d Thomas said of his struggles in 2025. \u201cThere was a lot that played a factor into it, but I\u2019m not too worried about that. I just wanted to come out this year with a new mindset, just to be focused and ready to go.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been more intentional about all the little things I need to get corrected. Year 2 coming into the offense, I\u2019ve got an idea of what things are going to look like, where things are going to be, how we learn certain things, how we want stuff. It\u2019s all been just a positive thing, a great thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even as Thomas\u2019 production dipped, the Jaguars still saw the respect he commanded from opponents. Superstar cornerbacks Patrick Surtain of the Denver Broncos and Sauce Gardner of the Indianapolis Colts shadowed him in Weeks 16-17. That played no small part in Washington delivering the highest yardage totals of his career as a result, amassing 14 catches for 260 yards and a touchdown in those games.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-2181387056-scaled-e1786549444356.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Brian Thomas Jr. and Trevor Lawrence are hoping to rediscover the connection that made them so potent in 2024. (Mike Carlson\/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
This offseason, Thomas and quarterback Trevor Lawrence have already displayed much improved chemistry. They\u2019re connecting on deep balls in practice at a consistent level they never reached last season, and there\u2019s plenty of reason to believe Thomas can be a dynamic weapon over the top as a way to free up Meyers and Washington as well as two-way player Travis Hunter.<\/p>\n
The Jaguars are genuinely encouraged about Thomas\u2019 trajectory, and it\u2019s not just general preseason optimism. They\u2019ve maintained their vision for Thomas.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s just go get better, man,\u201d Coen said he told Thomas. \u201cYou are here. We want to help you get to be the best version of yourself. You\u2019re going to help us win a lot of football games in that process. This is what it takes. It\u2019s not always easy. There\u2019s not always going to be this clear line to success.\u201d<\/p>\n
Added Coen: \u201cHe had a great rookie year, and everybody is killing him for a year that maybe wasn\u2019t up to his or our standard. But man, we still won 13 games, and (Thomas had) 700 yards. This is about winning games. As much as individual success matters \u2014 we want every player to get everything they can in terms of achievements, goals, individual statistics and awards.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut at the end of the day, this is a team game, and we\u2019re trying to build this organization to be a competitive team year in and year out, and he\u2019s a big part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Liam Coen had to get Brian Thomas Jr. on the phone. There was no time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":370426,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[10323,116,118,121,117],"class_list":["post-370425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-fantasy-football","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-jaguars","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=370425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/370426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}